Fighting for Love
by Somebody131
Summary: All Human and Romitri Rose and Eddie stopped fighting on streets a while ago. When they start at St. Vlads they are forced to fight again. Dimitri and Rose are enemys. Tasha is digging in the past and comes up with things that will change a lot.
1. Chapter 1

"Two years…." he whispered, stricken. I raised my head but didn't turn my view away from Masons grave " They said it would be easier with time passing, but I'm still waiting for that to happen." Eddie laid his hand on my shoulder as a comforting gesture. We stayed like that for a while, next to each other, silent and in thoughts.

Even on the way home neither of us talked. When I walked into the house I let myself down onto the sofa and Eddie went into the kitchen. As he went back in the room, he had an extra large box of ice cream under his arm and picked up my feet to lay them pack on his lap.

We spent the morning like this telling each other stories of Mason, of course both of us knew every single story already. Usually we would have been at school today, but mom told us we didn't have to go. Mason died exactly two years ago, he was my boyfriend and Eddie's best friend.

But well…, he did not just die he was killed in a street fight.

At this time we were all fighting in the streets. It was just a thing that the teens did around here, yet it has never been serious. After the fights there were no enemies, we just fought for fun. But Mase had wanted to take part in the real fights, so we went to the big city nearby and searched for the underground scene. We should have known better…

After this day we never fought again, Eddie still trained in the gym but I couldn't bring myself to it, though I knew he wanted to protect me if there ever came a situation like the one with Mase again.

"I'm home." Mom told us from the door while she entered. It was already noon, so I joined her in the kitchen and helped to unpack the groceries. Mary didn't say anything either, probably because she knew there wouldn't be anything to make this day less painful. Mary is Eddie's mum even though she was like one for me too.

She adopted me right after birth, seeing as my real mum, her sister, didn't consider herself in the right circumstances to care for me. I've never been told why, but I wouldn't ask for her anymore, she probably never wanted a kid. She didn't even bother to contact me once in my entire life, so Mary and Eddie were the best things that could have happened to me. I appreciated them for taking me in and treating me like a daughter and sister, so much that I changed my last name a few years ago.

That was a year after Thomas died, Eddie's dad. He had cancer and it was difficult to watch him two years slowly getting weaker. These incidents were most certainly the reasons why Eddie has been more serious than his peers. Surely I was very taken by his death, too but we were never that close. There was always something between us and I never could put my finger on what that was. For my dad…, well I never heard a single thing about him, neither his name nor anything else.

We were currently eating lunch, Lasagna, one of my favourites, though my appetite wasn't the same as normal, when Mary spoke up "There are letters in the mail for both of you.". I looked up at her and raised my eyebrows in surprise. I can't remember the last time someone wrote me a letter.

I was curious, so I sprang onto my feet and walked to the kitchen counter to go through the mail. A lot of bills, for which mum worked hard and long to pay, Eddie's letter and the last one was mine. I ripped it open:

Dear Rosemarie Castile,

It is a pleasure for me to tell that you qualified yourself for a scholarship at our public high school St. Vladimir. We would appreciate for you to join for your senior year, starting at the 25. august. In case you have any questions please contact me.

If there are none I will be looking forward to meet you.

Sincerely, the Headmistress

Ellen Kirova

I had to reread the letter until I turned to Mary "Did you made an application to this school? Without telling us?" her face changed to one of confusion "What? No, Rose you know I would never do anything without talking to you two before." I leaned over to give Eddie his letter and her mine. They read them in silence until mum spoke again, though it was almost too quiet to notice "Janine…"

"What, why? What does she has to do with it?"

"Her and your father met each other at this school. It's one of the best in the whole country and I'm kind of sure that they're responsible for these scholarships."

"Whatever, I don't care. We stay here!" my voice grew and mum started in a discussing tone

" Rose…" but Eddie interrupted her

"Rose you know that we won't get a chance like this again… and I won't leave without you, you know that, too.".

He looked serious nevertheless I saw the small hopeful glimpse in his eyes. He always wanted to go to college, which we couldn't afford so he needed a scholarship. The chances for a scholarship, with a diploma from such a school, were most definitely higher.

I gazed back to mum and snorted "Let me think about it.", then I walked upstairs into my room.

I've never needed them so why should take upon their offer now? It's not like my grades were responsible for this scholarship. And why the hell now? Why did it take them 17 years to do something for me? 17 years until they cared and I'm just supposed to get in on that. I was getting angrier by every thought, so I prepared myself for a run. Sports are always clearing my head, but today my feet brought me back to Masons grave and I talked to him about it.

If I would have been honest I knew my decision before I even started to ask Mase about it. I had to do it, not for me or my parents but for Ed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N** **Hey guys, sorry for the lack of introduction in the first chapter. It's my first Fanfic and I got confused with the whole system, using my phone instead of Pc wasn't helping matters.** **Well, like I said very first Fanfic so be gentle but always honest. When my Pc works again, there will be longer chapters. I'm also going to try to upload more than once in a week, but I can promise at least one chapter per week.** **I already have a story figured out so I won't stop because of a lack of ideas. But for this story to work I changed a lot of relations in regard of family constellations, so don't wonder.** **Finally english isn't my first language so I will be glad if you tell me about spelling or grammar mistakes.** **That's all for now, so enjoy:**

Now, three months later we were on our way to St. Vladimir. The drive was uneventful and none of us talked much since we were excited and thinking about how life would be from now on. We drove for almost five hours until we arrived at the gates. It seems that here was a lot of security considering the fences and the security man, who had to check our IDs. After we passed the gates we became lost. Most of the buildings looked the same, not monotone but modern. I could see a sports field behind some of the dorm buildings, as I would guess. The different building besides the sports field was probably the gym. It was really busy around there, but students also walked around the whole campus or just sat in the park we came by. I also noticed the school uniforms they wore and groaned internally. Eddie had a gleam in his eyes that told me he was enthralled. Finally we arrived at the office building and made our way inside. The secretary looked up "Hello, how may I help you?"

"My children Rose and Eddie are here for their senior year, we received an informing letter that they have gotten scholarships." , mum told her and waited for a response, which took quite a while.

" A scholarship? Are you certain?" her face was one of confusion as if she had had never heard of such a thing before.

"Well, yes. Take a look." she reached into her purse and brought out the letters to hand them over.

After reading them she told us to wait for a moment before leaving into another office.

She came back with an old woman.Her gray hair, pale skin and strict expressions made her definitely older than she actually was. She looked outworn but still not very sympathetic.

"Mrs. Castile, Edison and Rosemarie welcome to our institution. I'm glad to finally meet you. I have an important meeting to attend in a few minutes, but Ms. Sage will take care of your enrollment. So please excuse me." She seemed like she wanted to get rid of us.

Ms. Sage, the secretary, pulled out some forms, which mum had to fill out. After all the paperwork we had gotten our schedules, a map of the even bigger than originally thought school and our keys for the rooms. I really wasn't looking forward to sharing a room with some snobbish girl.

When all the farewells were done mum took off with the promise to skype on the weekends and picking us up again for the break. We watched her leave and it was a weird feeling. It's not like she had had spent a lot of time home, because of her jobs, so we had to care a lot for our own, but still when we needed her she has always been there. But I still had Eddie and as he turned around I knew he felt the same kind of nervousness as I did.

"So… ehm, guess I will see you later around." I had to laugh at his expression

" Stop worrying, I won't get into to trouble on the first day here. See ya."

with an assuring smile at him I turned around to make my way to my dorm.

I followed the route Ms. Sage had marked on my map, while gazing at the people around here. At least I was just glancing on same instead of gawking like them. I mean, sure I had gotten a lot of attention from guys before. With my curves, dark hair and exotic skin tone it wouldn't be arrogant to describe myself as hot. Although they weren't just ogling me, it was more of a studying. Possibly because there weren't a lot of new ones joining for the senior year or they just weren't used to people in normal clothes.

And there it was again, school uniforms, which reminded me of the fact that I didn't even had a single one. Well maybe there was no need, it was just one year so it wasn't worth the -

"Hey beauty, need some help?" some rudely interrupted my brightening thoughts.

He was good looking, platinum blond hair styled in a way that probably told a thousand things about his character and shining blue eyes, with an expectant gleam. The smirk on his face explained exactly what kind of help he had meant.

I smirked back "Sure." and handed my luggage over. I was certainly not looking for any kind of relationship, not even one for fun, but some flirting never hurt, right?

"I'm Jessy by the way." he was already breathing heavy from the luggage, the heating sun wasn't helping matters. "So what's your name, beauty?" I took my luggage from him, while he was standing next to me in front of my dorm building. "Didn't thought you earned yourself that much, did you?" I winked at him, while suppressing a snicker on his surprised and confused face.

Entering the dorm I stood in front of a desk with an old woman sitting behind, surely older than the headmistress, but softer features. She looked up at me and smiled warmly

"Hello dear, you have to be Rosemarie." "Yep, I'm the new one. But do us both a favour and stay with Rose.",

the corners of her mouth twitched though she didn't change her expression.

"Alright then. I'm Alberta Petrov the housemistress, at least for the next few days until Sonya comes back. Anyways you are signed up for room D34, sharing it with Natasha Ozera." I raised my eyebrows waiting for any more information for example a short statement about that Natasha. I could have sworn I had heard the name Ozera before, but I wasn't really in the mood to rack my brain over something, so I continued to stare expectantly at Alberta. She just kept smiling, also raising her eyebrows in question. The knowing glint in her eyes told me she knew what I wanted to know. I groaned loudly and gave up the staring contest. That woman was already testing my limits "Well, Berta tell me. Is she nice, trouble, interesting" I scrunched my face to support the true meaning of interesting "anything?", she had to suppress a laugh.

"You will get to know her." giving another loud groan I glared at her, turned around and stomped up the stairs.

I had to take four stairs until I stood in front of my room. Before I knocked, yes I was actually planning on doing that, I wasn't totally rude, at least not all the time, I let the name Ozera flash through my memories again, coming up without anything useful.

Just as I was raising my hand the door sprang open and revealed a tall, pale still handsome, nevertheless angry boy.

"Fuck o..who are you?"

"A resident of this room. And you are?" he rolled his eyes.

"Out of here." He stormed off with that, leaving me kind of startled in the doorway.

"Won't you come in?" A voice sounded from behind the door, her face appearing right after it.

She looked a lot like the guy, probably sibling. So at least no romance drama, well for now.

"Yeah, sure. Hi I'm Rose."

"Tasha. That was my asshole of a brother, Christian." I came in noticing now that even while her hair seemed to be totally black like her brothers there was a shade of brown. Although the scar across the side of her face was the thing that took in my attention for a few seconds. I remembered my intention to not be rude and looked away, however my mouth never worked in unison with my brain

" How did you get that?" she looked at my shocked

"Are you serious right now? Gosh!"

shaking her head, she grabbed her bag and stormed off, reminding me of her brother again.

"Whatever, I tried." I mumbled to myself, unpacking my things. It was a simple room: desk, bed, wardrobe, two of each. All wooden, but again not cheap or monotonous, still modern.There was also one yellow very comfortable couch and of course the door leading to our own small bathroom.

I ate my meal from a bag mum had prepared, because we weren't sure if we would have missed it here. It was 8pm when I finished eating and unpacking. I didn't want to leave the dorm today again, the people here were weird, though I could not put it into words, they were just weird. Mase would have had understood me. Well, I shouldn't go there right now, so I called Meredith, his sister and a good friend of mine. I told her about all the encounters and we chatted for a while. I went to bed almost directly after the call, thinking about the first face I would have to see every morning from now on: Tasha. Maybe she was just in a bad mood. At least Jessy was nice to look at, not that I wanted more. I snickered remembering his stunned expression, with that in mind I finally slowly drifted off into sleep.

 **A/N** **Don't worry. Dimitri and Lissa will show up in the next chapter. And some trouble (finally) of course.**


	3. Chapter 3

Waking up the next morning, the first thing I noticed was that Tasha wasn't there. My already good mood increased slightly. It was late in the morning, hopefully there was still breakfast in the cafeteria. I prepared myself for the day, jumping down the stairs, I greeted Alberta before slipping out of the building. While walking into the direction I remembered the cafeteria I noticed Christian talking to a blond girl. I stopped in my tracks, trying to recognise her face. Searching through my memories, she already squealed

"Rose! Over heeere." and waved like a maniac. I laughed and made my way over to them.

"Lissa, hey didn't knew you would be here." Hugging me

"I know, right? I never expected you to be here, too. When did you arrive? I'm so glad you're here. It must have been over a year since I saw you.", she babbled on and on about..., well I zoomed out a bit. I met Lissa a few times when we were younger because her parents were friends of Thomas. We did get along but it wasn't like we knew each other that much. Although Lissa was probably happy to meet anyone, it's just the way she is. I was back listening when I heard Eddie's name ".. was on his way to the cafeteria. I told him I would get Christian and join him, do you want to come with us? Oh sorry, I didn't introduce you. That's Christian my boyfriend. Chris, that's Rose, Eddie's sister."

"We already met, she's Tasha's new roommate."

"Yeah you're the friendly brother." so that's where I knew the name Ozera from, Lissa must have talked about him a while ago.

"Did you fight with her again?" Lissa scowled at him.

"Kind of…., but you know her it wasn't my fault."

"Yes and I certainly know you and.."

"Oh come on guys, I need to eat, now!" I looked at them, willing to murder anyone who would say anything to disturb our way to the cafeteria again.

So we made our way towards the building, Lissa babbling again about lighter topics.

Walking into the building I got confused, something about this picture didn't seem right. Ms. Sage already told us that the Elementary school had their own buildings and we would share with the junior high. I gazed through the crowds of students. Usually there were the different groups of teens, sorted by hobbies, lifestyle money or whatever. That was the case for the ones from junior high, seeing cheerleaders, jocks and all the other well known groups sitting around.

Although it was different with the seniors, there were just two groups, as I noticed observing the scene. The chattering went over the tables but didn't cross the invisible line between those two groups.

We had walked to the line of food when someone from behind spoke up to me

"Beauty, long time no see. I missed you.", so I turned around to grin at him.

"Can't say the same. But you can call me Rose now." I took four of the chocolate glazed doughnuts, moving on to the pancakes, the food here was awesome.

"So you're warming up to me. Now that we know each other, you should join us tonight." probably some break-is-over-party. Tomorrow was Sunday, so today was the last time you could party during the summer break.

"Not sure about that, yet." I told him, walking away towards the table, Eddie was already seated at. I loved parties though mostly I got myself into some kind of trouble.

"How do you know Jesse?" Christian eyed me critically.

"Talked to him yesterday. He wanted to "help" with my luggage. He just invited me to some party." I emphasized the word help, to let him know I knew what kind of guy he was.

"It's the recruiting party." I waited for an explanation before asking

"What?"

"Well, at this school things are kind of different." Lissa piped in, while watching in amazement how I ate one doughnut after another.

"After leaving middle school classes you have to join one side."

"What sides? I don't have to do anything." Shaking his head, he continued

"Alright. Since…, I don't remember the exact time, but it's been like this for over 50 years. There are two sides, moroi and dhampir. You've got to decide. The only ones who stay neutral are the Ivashkovs."

"And why exactly are there two sides?" Eddie asked between a few bites of eggs.

Christian looked as if someone had slapped him, but Lissa helped him out.

"Well the story says that all these years ago an Ivashkov woman has fallen in love with two men, who of course they were also in love with her. She told them to fight and after one of them died in this fight, his family wanted to revenge him."

"Oh sweet, didn't hear about that one yet."

A short blond girl had arrived seating herself next to Christian, she studied me and Eddie.

"Hey guys, I'm guessing you're Eddie and Rose, the gossip here is sure as hell working fast. I'm Mia and gonna tell you the real story," she talked almost as fast as Lissa did, even with the same high pitched voice. They could have been sisters if not for their appearance, the blond hair and pale skin was the only thing they had in common. Mia's hair was short and curly, besides her language wasn't as well-mannered as Lissa's.

"so 157 years ago, damn or was it 175, whatever a long time ago there had been two brothers. Both had been working for some Ivashkov, who told them to get the head of this other guy, for a lot of cash. They fought each other. The brother got killed but the crews continued to fight."

"Summarizing all that shit, no one has a clue what really happened besides the tons of stories?" I asked, taking a look around.

"Sooo….? What happens? I mean are you like hogwarts counting points and get rewarded by just winning at the end of the year?" I just still didn't really get it.

"You aren't taking this serious, are you?"

Tasha appeared out of nowhere, looking like she didn't quite make it to her own room last night. She slapped Christian on the back of his head, he seemed like he also noticed her fashion and had wanted to say something about it, but after her slap he just glared at her.

Now it was silent at the table, Mia and Lissa looking down and Tasha watching me, awaiting an answer.

"No, not really. Why should you be enemies if you don't know why. Doesn't make sense, but you know what I mean."

"We are not just enemies, alright. When you join the high school years you are pulled into one group and then it's like war.

We don't kill each other, but it's kind of close. You know every school has one sport club, which is "the" sport club. Over here it's different, we have the fights."

I observed Tasha's face for any indication she wasn't serious about her words.

"What if we don't fight?" Eddie spoke my thoughts, a grim expression in his face, also mirroring my own feelings.

I didn't like were that was going.

"Especially then you've got to chose one group, to protect you. You wouldn't think I would be made for fighting." Lissa laughed nervously, I could tell she was embarrassed by not being able to fight for her own.

"Let me get that right: Instead of clubs you're beating the shit out of each other after school?" Eddie had stopped eating, my appetite was gone, too. Also I was missing words to describe how I stupid I thought all of that was and me searching for words to express myself didn't happen a lot.

"No, there are still clubs, but you shouldn't join the ones of the dhampirs. Whatever we rule the cheerleaders so they can eat shit." Mia had written a grin on her face "But you know there are some smaller fights in the hallways or so, besides that we're just, well hating each other… most of the times.", her grin faded with her last words and I wondered about it, until Christian explained further.

"It all comes together at the Zvezdas, one for each trimester. Most private fights are put off until then, also both sides pick five members, which are going to fight in one on one battles until only one of those ten is left. The one who wins gets the prize home for his team."

"Which would be?" I couldn't imagine anything worth the trouble.

"Power." I scrunched my face

"What kind of power?"

"A lot of kinds. While being around teachers you don't speak up against them, or they chose who owns which clubs, half for each of us. The things they get to rule about are a lot and it's tradition, just like the groups." ,definitely not worth the trouble.

"Why can't we just compete them like normal sport clubs, why hate them?"

"Oh Eddie, you're a sweet one. They start brainwashing you in elementary school, there is no way out. We usually don't get new ones joining this school after elementary." Mia smirked at the now deep in thoughts looking Eddie.

"I'm getting a headache from this shit. Can we start talking about another topic." Lissa's face lighted up at my plea and she started with the newest gossip, while moving our small group outside in the park.

We sat down on the grass, while they explained more about life at St. Vlads.

They didn't mentioned the fighting again, but couldn't get my thoughts away from it.

Was this supposed to be a coincidence? Mary had sent us to a martial arts studio when we were kids to motivate us for this sport and now Janine, my biological mother had gotten us scholarships to this school. A school were fighting was of such an importance. Still I wasn't going to fight, after what happened to Mase when he had gotten involved in serious fights. Even though they said they wouldn't hurt each other that much, it seemed there was more about it. The expression on Mias and Lissa's faces after Tasha lectured me about not taking it serious enough made it seem like something happened they didn't tell me about.

"Who won last year?" I asked without thinking about it, disturbing one of Lissa's torrents of words. No one except Chris created the impression of knowing what I was talking about.

"The dhampirs, they won both years because of Belikov, the guy is not normal, believe me."

"But hot as fuck." Mia smirked, I shaked my head at her though I still smiled.

"He's also the best friend of Ivan Zeklos, Jesses brother." I frowned

"So they're all three in our year?"

Chris laughed

"Yeah that's a funny thing cause they're very similar except that Ivan is a smartass and Jesse just a dumbass, or maybe just lazy. Ivan skipped a year and Jesse had to repeat it. They are two years apart in age."

A while later Tasha and Mia excused themselves to go into town. Eddie went to gym and I was going to join him for a run. I wasn't so fond of sitting between Chris and Lissa.

While walking to my room I ran into the mentioned dumbass.

"Rose, always a pleasure to see you. What are you up to?"

"Nothing that includes you." He was really getting annoying.

"Have you thought about the party? Don't say you would rather enjoy a lonely evening in your room." I had to smile, he was right, I wasn't one for spending relaxing time on my own at a saturday evening.

"No I haven't decided yet."

"Don't play hard to get, I know girls like you." he winked at me, snorting I responded,

"You don't know girls like me, because if you would, you would stop talking." he was about to say something, when someone stopped while walking by

"Sweet lord you were right. I should meet her." he grinned at me. His appearance resembled Jesse's though he wasn't that tall and a bit more muscular, like he was training but not on a regular base.

"Yeah right, whatever got to go now." Jesse moved in front of me,

"Oh come on Rose, I know you would enjoy the party, I would certainly enjoy it with you there."

"Jesse move it, now!" I scowled at him.

"Yes, Rose you really should be there. I'm Ivan by the way. Ignore my brother, he just doesn't know how to treat a woman like you." shoving Jesse aside he raised his hand aiming for a strand of hair, fallen in front of my face. I grabbed his wrist

"Don't touch me or you're going to regret it.",I really wasn't in the mood for this dickheads. Someone else appeared behind of him

"What is going on here?" glaring at me, I glared back, trying to seem unaffected by his form. He was tall, even taller than Jesse, 6'6 as I would guess. His hair was bound back into a ponytail, making him look stoic though his eyes were narrowing at me with anger flashing in them. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, showing of his muscles. I knew what Mia was talking about now, this must be Belikov.

"Not your business."

"Let go of his arm."

I growled,

"And if not?" it's not like I intended on holding on to his wrist, but I wouldn't give in in front of this guy.

"Do it, Rose. Don't get yourself into trouble you cannot handle." I ignored the fact that he knew my name, released Ivans wrist and stepped up to Belikov crossing my own arms.

"You have no idea what I can handle, so don't tell me what to do." He made a step towards me,

"I won't, if you will stop harassing my friends."

"Dimka, let it go, she wasn't…"

I cut him off.

"Harassing? You think I harassed them? I'll show you me being harassening."

While saying that I pulled back my fist to let it collide with his face. Only it didn't, without blinking he had caught it with his own hand, smirking at me. The hand around mine grabbed its wrist, moving it behind my back. He made me spinning around, the grip was firm but didn't hurt. Breathing on my neck, his face only inches away. I couldn't see him anymore but I heard him when he told me

"I do not want to hurt you, but I will if you mess with us.".

His accent gave the words an even more dangerous sound. I could feel his presence right behind me and had to remind myself to breath. He was intimidating, not because of his threat, at least not entirely. There was also something else, something I didn't want to think about.

He released me so I could turn around to face him again. The two brothers were standing behind him by now.

"It was nice meeting you, Rose." They turned around walking away, I stood there, frozen in my tracks for a moment.

Running on the treadmill for around half an hour, I saw him from the corner of my eyes entering the gym. I hadn't told Eddie about my encounter with Belikov yet. Although I was not sure if I should tell him at all. It would just make him angry, so I just had to stay away from that guy, wouldn't be that hard, he ignored most of the persons around him. Except from me, I watched him glancing at me from time to time. Searching my face he didn't look like he found it. Whatever it was, studying me did not help him, so he decided to talk to me again.

" I'm Dimitri Belikov." I kept my mouth shut waiting for him to continue.

"Which party are you going to join?" There was more than one? So the moroi also threw a recruiting party as Chris called them.

"Why do you wanna know?" there was a silence for a few seconds until he responded.

"So?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"You neither." we glared at each other again.

"Don't know yet." I gave up, but I lied. I wouldn't join them, the dhampirs, the friends I had found by now were on the other side.

"You are a bad liar and making the wrong decision."

"Stop patronizing me. I am able to make my own choices, thanks."

I turned of the treadmill to leave

"You fought before, didn't you? Why did you stop?", I couldn't look at him, while spating

"As I already told you, none of your business." , I shot him one last look that said he should leave it, before I stomped off annoyed by his pushing.

I went for a shower since I was meeting Lissa and her puppy for lunch. The rest of the day went by, I was hanging out with Mia and Tasha after they arrived back from town. I still was not sure if I liked Tasha, but Mia was good company.

The evening getting near I walked over to Eddie to talk to him about this whole party thing.

At lunch, Chris had explained further that we would decide for one group by showing up at their party. I was already dreading that decision although I knew which one I would make.

 **A/N** **I hope you enjoyed it. Dimitri and Rose have a difficult relationship already.** **Just wanted to say that I could not think about any other names for the groups so don't get confused by the members, it has nothing to do with the spezies they are in the books, they are all human!**

 **Next chapter will be about the party, is Rose really going to join the moroi?**


	4. Chapter 4

The house father of Eddies dorm let me walk upstairs after I had told him that I was just going to see my brother. Smirking about how easy it would be to sneak into a room of some random guy, I climbed up the stairs and knocked at the door. As he opened I walked across the room, flung myself onto the small sofa, which was as I guessed in every room.

"So?" he asked while seating himself next to me.

"I don't like this. Ed. I mean you know what it can transform to if it's getting too serious. And it doesn't seem to me like they're far from it." He gave a sigh

"I know. I talked to Ambrose, my roommate, he said he isn't really getting involved with all this. So maybe we can just finish this year graduate on good terms and walk away before anything escalates." Looking troubled by saying that I knew he wouldn't like it to get out of control either way, us being involved or not "Maybe... what do you think would happen if we stay away from both parties."

"Nothing I would prefer. Ambrose tried, he was beaten up a lot in those few weeks. After getting his leg broken he joined the moroi." I gulped, there was definitely worse, though I wasn't going to let them beat me into a pulp.

"So we just join the Moroi and concentrate on school. At least you do, I'll do what I can best." He raised his eyebrows,

"That would be getting into trouble." rolling my eyes I answered

"No the other thing Eating?" we started to laugh until the door opened.

"Hey man, oh hey you must be Rose. I'm Ambrose, Eddie's roommate." Man, were there any ugly guys at this school though saying he would be not ugly would be an understatement. His muscular body was just the start, curly black hair and a deep gold skin made him look like a greek god.

Bringing myself out the trance his appearance made me fall into I spoke

"Hi, yeah we talked about you a second ago .. and the parties tonight."

He nodded in thoughts and I decided it was time to go. So I told them to see them later and went back to my dorm building.

I stopped in my tracks as a thought crossed my mind.

"So Berta? How are you today?" Smiling her usual smile she also raised her brows.

"What do you want Rose?" I grinned, she knew me already.

"Well…, how long have you been working here?" I was told by Lissa that she actually was a teacher for PE and history, but filling in for Sonya Tanner who was currently sick.

"Rose?" She looked at me questionably,

"Yeah?"

"What is it?" god dammit! I would celebrate the day when I was able to keep a secret from her.

"Ehh… I was just wondering about… Did you know my parents?" I couldn't get it out of my mind that I was encouraged my whole life for the seemingly most important thing at this school. Mary would never lie to us, but maybe she knew that my parents would enable those scholarships for us sooner or later, later in this case. Had this been our preparation? And why the hell would they send us here in the first place, they should know about the fighting.

As I got out of my thoughts I noticed Alberta hadn't answered yet though her expression had changed. She didn't smile anymore and her eyes were off somewhere else.

"We will talk about it some other time." before I could say something to dig again she stopped me.

"You should really go. Lissa is probably waiting for you. Have fun tonight."

Not wondering about how she knew I was supposed to go to Lissa or why she told me to have fun, I was rather confused by her distant behavior.

Lissa's actually was waiting for me but didn't seem to mind.

"Rose I've the perfect dress for you. Actually it's Natalie's though she can't fill it out like you could, it should fit and when I saw it, oh it's the perfect match."

She started rambling through her closet, which was already half empty, clothes lying all around her room.

"Wow slow down Liss. Didn't you say it's going to be in the woods?"

"Yes it is, but that's surely no reason to not wear a dress. You are going to look so beautiful."

"Yeah no offence Liss but next time. I don't think I should wear a dress today." I wasn't into dresses. Sure to some occasions like homecoming or prom I didn't need to be forced into one, but for just some party I prefered casual clothes.

She looked slightly disappointed

"So let me at least do your makeup.", laughing a little at her need to dress me up I agreed. Lissa had already styled her hair so it took us a little less than an hour to get her dressed and both of our makeups.

She picked a green dress, matching her eyes and later also her makeup.

I ended up with just some little changes and was impressed how Lissa had controlled herself by not exaggerating it.

We texted Eddie and Christian to meet us outdoors, therefore we were on our way through the woods just a few minutes later.

I was surprised that the school grounds where that big, Liss explained we wouldn't get near the fences.

We arrived at a clearing with a lot of people, music and some booze. People were dancing, laughing, chatting like at every other party.

I sighed, thinking about if I should get a drink or better stay sober. Lissa and Christian excused themselves pretty fast to go off dancing. I was standing besides Eddie who seemed as lost as I was. It wasn't like me to stay in the back while the party was moving in the right direction though usually I knew the people on those parties.

"Hey girl, Eddie! Glad to see you guys here. Come on I'll introduce you."

so we went to meet her friends, walking through the crowd someone grabbed my arm. As I turned I recognized Ambrose, "Wanna get outta here?" I wasn't sure what to say, I would love to right now, but not like this. He smirked and if he could read my thoughts he explained further. "Not like this. I just don't like all this. I won't try anything… at least as long as you don't want it." Winking at me he guided us away from the clearing and the people.

We walked in silence for a while, it was comfortable. "Ed told me what happened."

I knew right away what he was talking about, but wasn't sure how I should feel about Eddie talking about something like that after knowing him not even two days.

"You two are getting along good, mh?"

"Yep, Eddie is a good guy, he's more mature than others." I nodded and we talked for half an hour about some basics of our lives.

"So I should get back now, my brother is kind of scared about all this. If he doesn't find me he is going to freak out." I laughed, he had told me about him, that they were often regarded as twins though there was a two year gap. I couldn't imagine a guy like Ambrose being scared to death.

"Yeah sure I'm going to join you in a few minutes." it's not like I was going to get lost, the others were still in view and hearing range.

He nodded and walked away with fast steps. I was walking through the trees with some swerves, thinking about how Mason, his sister Meredith, Ed and I used to play, as kids, catch in the woods behind the Ashford house.

I bumped into someone. Taking my gaze away from the ground I found another one of those not ugly guys, he was hot though I catched the smell of booze and cigarettes, though he seemed to be old enough to do both legally.

His hair all ruffled up, although it was definitely supposed to appear that way.

Eyes shining in an unique dark green, he smirked down at me.

"Sorry." I nodded in apology, starting to leave him as he said,

"I'm Adrian… Ivashkov." I turned around in surprise.

"So you're one of those.."

"I am. And you are Rose Hathaway." Alright, this was getting weird,

"It's Castille now. How do you know about that name?"

"I heard a lot about you though they forgot to mention how beautiful you are, little dhampir." now it was my turn to smirk at him.

"You should check those sources. I'm not joining the dhampirs."

"I know, but you should though."

"Has anyone ever told you how weird you are?"

He smiled down at me, letting his gaze wander from my face to my body and back up to my face. Usually I would have felt offended but there was some kindness in his eyes that prevented my from it.

"May I escort you back?" I nodded, slightly overtaxed by his use of words, nevertheless we started walking.

"I've met your father." I stopped in my tracks, turning to face him again, trying to form a question out of the millions I had in my head right now. When I was younger I asked Mary about him but she refused to tell my anything.

"Ivashkov, Rose." I groaned loudly, not now, not him. Dimitri had stepped up to us. Hell, why were all of them walking around randomly in the woods.

"Belikov, you're kind of interrupting right now." by Adrians tone I guessed he wasn't very fond of him now, too.

"Yeah whatever, I'm not here to talk to you. Rose do you have a moment?"

"Not now, later I promise. But really could you just.. leave." I didn't want to be rude, but my all of my brain was occupied with questions coming about about nearly everything involving my father, so I couldn't think straight to chose my words carefully. Regarding to Dimitris clenching fist I wasn't successful. He cleared his throat, looking at me with pleading eyes.

"It can't wait."

"We'll just finish our talk later." trying to respond, Adrian was already disappearing in the darkness.

"Fuck!" I cursed, getting angry I snapped at Dimitri,

"What the fuck is so important now." catching him off guard he stepped back.

Crossing his arms, his slightly surprised look changed into one of anger, too.

"Don't join the moroi." Throwing up my arms into the air I almost screamed at him

"That's anything but important. Hell I won't change my mind. If you'll excuse me now I need to find Adrian again." trying to storm off he positioned himself in front of me.

"What were you even doing out here with him?" Has he ever heard of privacy?!

"Why do you think anything in my life would be your business?"

Gazing away for a second he breathed loudly before taking his stare back to me.

"He isn't any appropriate company for you."

I studied his features

"Are you jealous?" Raising just one of his eyebrows he got even hotter.

"You know if that's the reason you want me to get on your side, don't worry." I took a few small steps towards him until our bodies almost touched, I felt drawn to him. Sure he wasn't that sympathetic, but not kissing him would be a waste. Placing his hands on my shoulders, he took a step away from me, so he needed to stretch his arms.

"Rose, I'm not jealous neither is that a reason I want you on my side. You're a good fighter, I just don't want someone like you as an enemy." I gulped, averting my eyes to the ground, smiling weakly "Yeah sure. But no."

I turned around, not daring to look back. What did just happen? Usually I didn't even need to make the first step, but if I did I never got rejected and certainly not like that. He practically told me he I was unattractive like he wouldn't even think of me in that way. Why had I even wanted to kiss him, I just met him the other day?!

Embarrassment wasn't a feeling I knew well, but I recognised it. Feeling horrible, I got angry and drunk, because back at the party I definitely needed a drink.

After a few cups people started to move, I didn't know where to, but still followed.

"Rose? Are you alright?" Eddie appeared next to me looking slightly worried.

"Yeah just some annoying conversations."

"Did you drink?"

"Not too much." he nodded, but I knew he wouldn't let me out of his sight, I was glad about that. I was still able to walk and talk but my head was hurting and spinning, which couldn't be from the alcohol already, still it took its toll on me.

Closing my eyes for a while I hold onto Eddie's arm to calm myself down a bit.

"Just tell me if you need anything." nodding I mumbled,

"Sure, it's just some crazy headache." , my brain was probably overloaded with all the thoughts about my father, Adrian and Dimitri.

We stopped somewhere in the woods and it got silent until someone started something like a speech about tradition. I was pretty sure it was Adrian, which was confirmed as I opened my eyes again, searching for him.

He was standing in front of us, but not just us in use for moroi, a few steps away from us, the dhampirs were positioned.

"...so welcome to all the new students, please come to the front. The crowds opened, Sophomores stepped up to the front, Ed and me going with them.

We divided into two groups,

"Dhampirs, moroi, look at your new fellows. Sophomores, Rose and Eddie the group you will return to right now, will be the one to protect you and the one you will fight for. You are able to choose now." probably just procedure seeing as everyone already knew where to go. So we left the front again and Adrian recommended attention again.

"The tradition says to start the year with fights between four seniors."

Two people, looking a lot younger than the rest of us walked up to him, holding a bowl each with notes inside.

Adrian pulled out one from each "So the first ones will be Dimitri Belikov" murmurs went through the crowds. "and Lissa Dragomir." My eyes nearly popped out, that wasn't going to happen was it?

"I'll do it." raising my hand, I surprised myself. Oh shit, what the hell is wrong with me. If I had waited for second Chris surely would have volunteered to.

Moving back up there, I found myself looking in those chocolate brown eyes, studying me, searching for something.

People went silent and I got into a fighting stance "Come on, comrade. Show me what you got!" maybe it wasn't such a bad idea at all, I certainly would release my anger at him.

"Rose…" his tone trying to tell me to calm down, but I wouldn't budge from this.

"No,you are not going to reject me in both ways." I hissed at him, so no one else could hear, I could somehow cope with him not being interested in me, but then he shouldn't have a problem fighting, should he?

Giving a sigh of resign, he got himself into a fighting postion as well. I just realised it was the first time after Mason's death that I fought again. I was distracted by that when Dimitri kicked at the side of my legs, with less force than expected though enough to let me fall. Before I could get up again, he slung his arms around my neck, moving my up to my knees. He was right behind me, holding me in a stranglehold, whispering "Give up, now."

"No way." I choked back, using the last breath I got my view turned black, slowly sliding into unconsciousness I promised to myself to get back at him.

 **A/N** **Sooo, there is a lot of weird stuff going on. What is the big secret about Rose parents?** **And what is Rose going to do about Dimitri?** **I really appreciate the reviews, it's really motivating, so thank you guys for that.** **@SuckerforDelena** **You're right I forgot that I already mentioned it, and I aggree with the bonding thing, I promise there will be some of it.** _ **For the high school terms and well just they the systems works I need to do a lot of research so plz tell if I got there something wrong, the system over here in Germany works totally different.**_ _ **Now, my PC is still broken, though now it's my fault writing down the wrong adress. I hope it's going to work next week again so I can upload faster.**_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N  
** **First of all I'm really sorry about updating soo late. I had a lot going on but hopefully thats over now.** **So this is the new chapter:**

When I woke up I couldn't tell where I was or what had happened. A few seconds later, rubbing my eyes, I sat up and it all came back to me.

"You're awake." I turned my head to see Tasha sitting on her desk chair.

"Yeah. What happened after I passed out?"

"Your brother sneaked you back into your room and Lissa stayed with you, the whole night."

Thank God that Ed had been there or they would have brought me probably to the infirmary.

"Where is Liss now?"

"Went for a coffee…. Look you shouldn't take it personally, you know?"

My face turned into one of confusion,

"Ehh not really. What do you mean?"

"Dimitri. I'm sure you hate him right now, but he's not that bad of a guy."

I didn't even hate him. He just did as I told him to do, I was just angry at myself that I hadn't given him a real fight.

"How can you tell?"

"We had been good friends a while ago."

I nodded, I didn't ask about what happened. She would tell me when she was ready and I didn't need her to get miffed again, like when I had asked about her scar.

"I don't really hate him." She smiled for a moment until the door went open slowly.

Lissa peeked in,

"Oh Rose you are awake. That's great, I was really worried about you."

"I'm fine but you didn't bring a hot chocolate or something, did you? I'm not one of a coffee drinker."

She looked panicked,

"Oh no. I didn't know that. I'm so sorry. I will go again." I laughed at her horrified expression.

"Liss, slow down. It's fine. I will just get up and go for breakfast. I'm kind of starving anyways."

"You can join Chris and me if you want."

"Yeah just wait a sec." I got up and searched through the mountains of clothes already building on my side of the room. Tasha left the room a few seconds later and Lissa turned thoughtful,

"Rose?"

I turned around to look at her because of her sudden serious tone of voice, when she continued,

"Thank you for yesterday."

"Sure everytime." we smiled at each other.

"Christian trained pretty hard to protect me though I don't think he's ready yet to fight against Dimitri." I had to laugh at that,

"And I am?"

"Rose even though no one else around here knows what you are capable of, I remember that you already trained when we were kids."

my face fell. I didn't think about those times. I never told her about Mason because we weren't that close, more like cousins living in distance and seeing each other one time in two years, if even. We stood there in silence for a few seconds until I went through the things she said before.

"Why did Christian just start his training? You guys are together for years now."

"But now it's different. A year ago when… when…"

My eyes widened, when I understood what she was trying to say and I rushed over as her eyes started to water.

"Oh Liss. I'm so sorry." Me rubbing her back while hugging calmed her down after a while. Mary had told Eddie and me about the car crush. Both her parents and her brother died in it. Andre had been a year older than her and probably able to fight.

"They never tried to hurt us because of dad." I looked questioning at her teary face,

"He had been headmaster…" nodding and hugging her again I got up.

Getting dressed, I finished with putting my hair up into a bun while walking to the door, Liss on my tail.

We picked up Chris and Mia on the way. Mia was also on her way for the cafeteria so she just joined us.

Walking through the food line I picked up everything that had a certain amount of sugar.

Back at the table Mia smirked at me,

"Damn girl, don't think you will be able to handle him by getting weight."

"Just hungry. I'm gonna beat him even without extra weight."

"Let it go Rose. You shouldn't have fought against him in the first place." Christian stared at me, an angry glint in his eyes.

"Oh don't get yourself worked up so much, just because I protected your girlfriend instead of you." He huffed,

"Next time stay out of it. It's not like you're good at it." now he got a weak point.

"Alright, you don't have to watch next time, but I will kick his ass and show everyone around not to mess with me."

"Right, because you will definitely stand a chance against him. Saw your skills yesterday, can't lose with those."

"Shut it, you have no idea what you're talking about!" I was crunching and almost liked Tasha a little more because her brother really was an asshole.

Why was Liss with him again?

"And you have no idea what you're messing with. I trained for months and can't beat him, so don't waste your breath."

"Yeah? Just watch me!" I spat at him.

"Rose, you don't have to do..." Liss wanted to hold me down, I had stuffed the last doughnut into my mouth and was on my way to rush off.

I brushed her off while walking with fast strides outside, shouting back.

"Don't worry."

I went straight to Eddie's room and knocked, still not really calm.

"Rose, what's going on?" he wasn't even changed, rubbing his eyes and looking confused at me.

"I need to fight against Dimitri again. You need to train me."

"What? No! Have you forgotten..." I interrupted him, because I knew he would say that before he even started his sentence.

"No! Of course not. But what do you think is going to happen, if everybody around here sees just a weak girl in me? Christian already thinks I am, I mean look at him, he's barely half of a portion himself." I crossed my arms to underline my certainty.

Sighing, he leaned at the doorframe watching me with a worried expression. He knew me, so he wasn't going to argue about something I had already made my mind about.

"I will help you under one condition." I raised my brows, waiting for him to continue.

"You won't fight him until I say you're ready to."

I gulped and stared at him for a while to see if he would give in some more, he didn't.

"Fine… When do we start?"

"Meet me in the gym in half an hour."

"Thanks Ed. I'll be on time."

I promised while rushing away again.

On my way out I ran into Ivan, he grinned at me after looking around.

But before he could say something I spoke up,

"Do you know where Dimitri is right now?"

he raised his brows and studied me for a second.

"In his room, I guess."

"Well and where is that?"

"You shouldn't do that Rose. You're a pretty girl they won't hurt you unless you're giving them a reason so don't try to prove yourself." I was surprised for a moment that he knew what I wanted to do but was also annoyed that he didn't tell me his room number.

"I already made my decision so just tell me where to find him." He sighed,

"On the first floor, the last one on the left."

I nodded and headed off.

"Rose, I'm sorry…" Dimitri started, when he opened his door, and I just stood there staring at his change of features when he saw me. But I quickly recovered and cut him off,

"I challenge you." I crossed my arms, waiting for a response, while Dimitri didn't seem to get my intentions.

"Rose, listen. I didn't want to fight you. I'm sorry for doing it, but you didn't give me a chance to refuse."

I snorted, "Yeah and you shouldn't try to refuse again, cause we both know it won't work."

He pinched the bridge of his nose and mumbled something.

"Let me think about it." He started to close the door and I reached out to stop it while gritting my teeth.

"Don't you dare leave me like that."

His surprise at my change of voice was clear in his face before it changed back to a serious expression.

"Alright I will do it, if you stay away from trouble until then." He smirked at me and I was more confused than ever.

"Why do you care?" he probably didn't want me to notice that it caught him off guard, but I did.

"Well, I already told you that I know how good of a fighter you are and I want to protect my people from you. So if you would excuse me." he gave my hand that still holded onto the door a pointed look and I moved back a step.

"Have a nice day." I nodded a little dumbfounded by his professional way.

I didn't make it in time to the gym but Eddie let it slip, he already knew me.

We began with training some basics, I mostly remembered, but hadn't done in years. After two hours I felt like I never stopped fighting, my body still knew how to move, though my muscles weren't used to it anymore. But they would, soon.

I was determined to do this. Hell, if I wouldn't have wanted to, I had to. There was no way I would let anyone fight for me and get hurt in the process. I didn't think bad about Lissa for being vulnerable, she was a different story, because I had already learned how to fight, I just needed to refresh my training. She would have to learn it all over from the beginning, which is why I wanted to be able to protect her, too. It wasn't fair that she had to care about this after losing her family.

On my way back to my dorm Alberta stopped me,

"Rose, you have to pick up your school uniforms. Ms Sage has them stored, she is waiting for you in her office."

So I went back outside and to the administration building, not being able to find her I launched myself into a chair in the hall, waiting.

After a few minutes the front door went open and a girl came in, panting, totally breathless.

"Hi..you ha..ve to be … Rose. Sorry… give me a sec."

I laughed and waited until she was able to talk again. She was a few years younger than me but tall for her age. With her platinum hair and green eyes she reminded me a lot of Lissa, even her voice was in a similar high pitched tone.

When she calmed down she smiled shyly at me,

"Sorry, I had to run all the way from my mums place to get here in time. She just called me to wait here for you and I got so excited that I almost forgot the keys, so I had to run back and…"

"Woah slow down. It's fine you're not late. But what exactly are you here for?"

she let out a breath she was holding after I interrupted her rambling.

"Oh yeah right. I'm Jill, Ms. Sage is mum, so I'm here for the clothes."

That made sense,

"And why again have you been so excited?" I asked her while she went over to open a door in the back of the hall.

"I heard all about you." Her eyes shone when she looked at me again.

"Ehh…? And what exactly?"

"How you stood up for Lissa, against that jerk Belikov. You inspired me to start training, I do not want to end up like Lissa."

She told me proudly, looking at me like I was her hero.

I gulped not really knowing how to respond, when she spoke up again.

"Just look for your size, these are just some spare uniforms, but I think mum will order some new ones for you tomorrow."

I nodded and went through the shelves in search for something that wasn't either fiver numbers to big or looked like worn over a thousand times.

Eddie came, while I was just leaving, and Jill's attention for me was gone. Just by looking at him, she blushed, which was totally understandable, he definitely was a handsome guy. I waved them before leaving the building.

 **A/N** **So Jill is Sydneys daughter...** **I know it's kind of weird but I will get into that later.**


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